As we have done for the last fourteen years, Women in Black again remembers with bitterness that the organizers, commanders, and perpetrators of the kidnapping of 19 people from a train in the Strpci Station on February 27, 1993 and the murder of these individuals are still free. Women in Black demands that the justice system establish the criminal responsibility of everyone mentioned during the trial of Nebojsa Ranisavljevic, the only one who has been sentenced for these crimes. Women in Black does not believe that Serbian citizens should be held hostage to criminals and crimes.
According to documentation of the Belgrade office of Serbian Railways (formerly Yugoslav Railways), representatives of Serbia, Yugoslavia, and Yugoslav Railways knew of the plan to kidnap non-Serb travelers who were citizens of Yugoslavia. At that time, the president of Yugoslavia was Dobrica Cosic, the commander of the Yugoslav Army’s Uzice Corps was Hague indictee Dragoljub Ojdanic and the Director of Yugoslav Railways was Milomir Minic, a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia.
Republika Srpska soldiers commanded by Milan Lukic, who has been convicted by The Hague, stopped train number 671 which was traveling from Belgrade. There was an armed group with Chetnik insignias aboard. In the Strpci train station, 25 masked men entered the train and, with the help of the Chetniks already on the train, took some travelers. They tied them up with wire, took them off the train, and led them to a garage in Sasa, not far from the banks of the Drina. Many shots were heard, enough to kill every person in the garage.
In 2002, a court in Bijelo Polje sentenced a Serbian carpenter, Nebojsa Ranisavljevic, to 15 years in jail for his participation in the crimes, not even a year in jail for each person killed.
During the trial, the names of other perpetrators of the crimes were mentioned. In addition to Lukic, they are Boban Indjic, Ranko Drekalo, Mica Jovicic, a Mr. Sekaric , a Mr. Tanovic, and the Poluga brothers, but there has not yet been any investigation into their involvement.
In addition to the Muslims who were executed, one Croat was singled out by the criminals. The youngest person killed was only 16 years old. Those taken away were Esad Kapetanovic, Ilijaz Licina, Fehim Bakija, Seco Softic, Rifet Husovic, Sead Djecevic, Ismet Babacic, Hail Zupcevic, Adem Alomerovic, Rasim Coric, Fikret Memetovic, Favzija Zekovic, Nijaz Kajevic, Muhedin Hanic, Safet Preljevic, Dzafer Topuzovic, Jusuf Rastoder, Zvjezdan Zulicic and Tomo Buzov.
Women in Black will never stop searching for the truth about war crimes, most importantly, those committed in our name, but also all others. We demand punishment of organizers, commanders, and perpetrators of war crimes. We will search for justice and protect the dignity of the victims of the war crimes committed in our names.
Women in Black - Belgrade and The Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Belgrade
February 26, 2007
This announcement is supported by The Women in Black Network from Bor, Vrbas, Vlasotince, Velika Plana, Dimitrovgrad, Zajecar, Kikinda, Kraljevo, Krusevac, Leskovac, Novi Sad, Becej, Novi Pazar, Nis, Pancevo, and Tutin.
